We avow our faith in

God as eternal and all-conquering love;
the spiritual leadership of Jesus;
the supreme worth of every human personality;
the authority of truth, known or to be known; and
the power of persons of good will and sacrificial spirit to overcome all evil and progressively establish the kingdom of God.

Many years ago, when I was pregnant with our daughter, my husband and I joined the Universalist Unitarian Church in Brockton. (That's right... the name "Universalist" came before "Unitarian," a story in itself!) David and I were thinking ahead a few years about how to we wanted to raise this child in a supportive, liberal community. We were also looking for a place where we could worship together and hopefully make some friends. I didn't know much about the Unitarian Universalism, only that it was a liberal religion. As I learned more over the years, I came to love it and feel I belonged.

However, for quite a while, I was confused about one thing: How did Unitarian Universalism relate to Christianity? I knew it had begun as a Protestant faith, but didn't know back then when we joined how UUs in general identified with Christianity. I was thinking about the people at the Brockton church in particular, but also UUs in general. On the wall in the front of the Sanctuary, there hung an old Universalist symbol, the circle with an off-center cross. I was curious, but I was also a bit uncomfortable and was afraid to ask what the cross meant. Maybe I was reluctant to show my ignorance... since I really didn't know much about Christianity in the first place. And I think I was a bit afraid, with my Jewish background, of evoking a subtle anti-Semitism. These folks said they welcomed everybody, but I didn't know if that really meant me. It took me a while to be convinced that these folks really meant what they said and I began to relax.

As far as the question about the Christian identity: I found later that many people in our UU churches are intolerant of Christianity. Many adult UUs are come-outers from Protestant or Catholic churches. Many were traumatized or harmed in some way by their previous religious experiences. Some joke about being recovering Catholics. Often, many carry an awful burden of anger.

I imagine that those hurt by the doctrines of Original Sin and humanity's inherent sinfulness turn to our liberal religion as a way to escape, to be affirmed in their inherent goodness. Those hurt by negative attitudes toward human bodies and human sexuality are reassured by a religion that views bodies as sacred and thinks mature and responsible sex is a blessing to be enjoyed. Many who have been scared (and scarred) by the threats of hell and eternal punishment turn to a faith which at the beginning a couple of centuries ago preached Universal Salvation and later talked about freedom of choice, the blessings of imperfection and the rewards, here and now, of living a good life.

Some who come to us from orthodox Christianity got into trouble as teenagers when they began to have doubts and raise questions about church doctrine. Maybe they questioned the miracles of a virgin birth and bodily resurrection... those concepts which seem to contradict modern biology which they were learning in school. Maybe it was questions about the nature of a God who would require the sacrifice of his Son for our sake! It is refreshing, isn't it, to come to a house of worship which says an inquiring mind is a wonderful thing!

I found out gradually that many people come to UU churches as a way to escape a hurtful religious past. Often they wish to simply ignore Christianity. Even the word "God" may make them a little nervous. And words like "Jesus Christ" and "Sin" and "Salvation" may give something of a jolt to their nervous systems. Is that true with any of you here this morning? Does any reference to Christianity make you squeamish? Do references to Jesus make you flush? Are you frankly angry with your past?

I have a powerful cure for you: Universalism, the faith that taught God is eternal and all-conquering love. Universalism: that's the second word in our denominational name. It's that lesser known and often forgotten faith which came to the partnership in 1961. The Rev. Richard Trudeau of Weymouth, himself a "come-outer," writes that Universalism offers us a way to reclaim the parts of Christianity that are still meaningful. Despite his anger, he wrote:

"Logic told me that Christianity couldn't be all bad. And so I embarked on the delicate and exasperating process of taking my childhood religion apart--of separating all the toxic things from the few things that still felt good, of separating all the things I thought were silly from the few that still made good theological sense."

You may still say "Why bother? Why try to save Christianity, even from a liberal perspective, even for just myself? Isn't it easier just to avoid it?" The fact is that you can't avoid it. It's the elephant in the middle of the room. Despite what we might wish, Christianity still pervades the culture... here in Taunton and around the country. And on a personal level, if Christianity has hurt you, this is what you must come to terms with... if you are to overcome anger, to be reconciled and to be at peace with it.

And why would you want to discard a major world religion if you are open to all others? Isn't that inconsistent and even hypocritical, a violation of our UU principles... to embrace humanism, Buddhism, Judaism, neo-paganism... and to reject Christianity? After all, Jesus was a bold and clear-sighted religious reformer, an advocate for the poor and downtrodden, and a great moral example. What he said and what he did still inspires millions to lead good and holy lives. We can separate the religion of Jesus from the religion about Jesus Christ.

So why Universalism? Why is it different from its partner, Unitarianism? They both taught the importance of individual freedom to explore for truth. Both faiths agreed that Judeo-Christian Bible was not the final word of God, but was a collection of some of the greatest religious writings, including the teachings and moral examples of that radical rabbi Jesus. And that the Bible contains not one truth or one voice, but many voices. One could pick and chose what was valuable in a modern context and what was not.

In fact, from the very beginning of Universalism in America, from the time that pioneer John Murray landed on our shores in 1790 with the message about a loving God and Universal Salvation, Universalists were the heretics who openly broke with a harsh Calvinism. They were considerably bolder than the Unitarians, who stepped out of the liberal closet, so to speak, 40 years later. And this was only after they were "outed" by an orthodox Trinitarian preacher. The Unitarians were part of the establishment and the social elite. They were less inclined to appear to be the radical heretics. The Universalist farmers and tradesmen were not so shy about bucking the religious establishment, although they may have suffered more as a consequence. I should be quick to add that Universalism over time was not only about Christianity. The Universalist symbol of the off-center cross in a circle, designed in 1947, is meant to convey the message that its source is Christianity, but it is open to other religions and spiritual truths. The meaning of the off-center cross has been described this way:

"The circle, a traditional symbol of infinity because it has no beginning or end, represents the universe. The empty space at the center represents the mystery at the heart of the universe that people call "God." The cross represents Christianity, out of which Universalism grew, and which is the path toward God that most religious people in North America are brought up to follow; but it is placed off-center, to leave room for other points of view and to acknowledge the validity of other paths toward God."

A few years after the merger, some individuals who knew and loved Universalism realized that this valuable heritage was being lost to our memory. Thus the New Massachusetts Universalist Convention was formed in 1998. It is devoted to "fanning the flame of Universalism in order to inform the Unitarian Universalist movement today and to help light the way toward the future." Its members are convinced that there is a real and substantial difference between Unitarianism and Universalism, although they are not in conflict. What they share at the core is a general liberal approach to religion.

But where Universalism differs I think is a certain passion and a commitment to an egalitarian, all-inclusive and more spiritual religion. Universalism is a movement which arose out of the less-educated laity, the dissenters mostly from the Baptist churches. They were the farmers from rural New England and the tradesmen from the small towns. The founders of Unitarianism by contrast were largely the Harvard educated clergy from Eastern Massachusetts. To over-simplify a bit, Universalism is a religion more of the heart and Unitarianism a religion of the head. The biggest difference back at the beginning... back around 200 years ago ... is that while Unitarians emphasized good moral character as a way to salvation, the Universalist preacher, John Murray, said that God loved everyone no matter what they had done in life, and that nobody would be damned to hell for an eternity. All would be saved! This is the belief in Universal Salvation, from which the new faith got its name. The other good news is that the threat of hell was unnecessary anyway for people to be good and avoid sin. We don't have to live under a threatening cloud, worrying about what came after death. If people only knew they were loved by God and if they only knew that being good would make them happy, then they would be good and do good naturally. This was a very optimistic and positive view of the world and of human nature. Universalism caught on after the Civil War in a way that Unitarianism never did.

The Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing spoke about a loving Father God sternly correcting "incorrigible" sinners... which excluded the good Unitarians, of course. But according to the Universalist minister, Hosea Ballou, no one was incorrigible. Because of our God-given free will, salvation is always possible in this world. Because of God's love, it is guaranteed in the next.

As time passed, Universal Salvation became less important as modern science took off and belief in the afterlife was less certain. Instead, Universalism changed ... morphed if you will... into a religion actively open to the universal truths. Last week I talked about Rev. Kenneth Patton, the minister of the Charles Street Meetinghouse in Boston, who wanted to create a Religion for One World. He decorated the meetinghouse with symbols of many of the world's religions, ancient and modern, obscure and well known. Today, a half century after his ministry, we might say that Patton's dream of a Religion for One World was terribly naïve. Imagine a universal religion accepted by all people around the world! We know now more about cultural influences and that dissolving all faiths into one is impossible. It ignores the historic and deeply rooted diversity of cultures and the irreconcilable differences of the faith. On the other hand, Patton's desire for a peaceable world, a world where people know and understand each other and get along is still an ideal to hope and work for.

Another reason to not forget our Universalist heritage is because it can help heal our UU movement. We know that many members of UU congregations, including those hurt and angry former Christians, are intolerant of Christianity. Trudeau says

"This widespread intolerance makes our movement look silly." We so loudly preach tolerance, but do not practice it. This, he says, "is a wound at the heart of our movement. We are failing to live up to our own principles." "Universalism challenges this intolerance. Its symbol, the off-center cross, makes denial of the UU movement's Christian heritage impossible. At the same time, though, the off-center cross expresses our desire to keep our Christian heritage at arm's length. It says: just as we pick and choose from other religions, we will pick and choose from Christianity."

He continues,

"Universalism helps Jews in our congregations to see that what the UU movement chooses to keep from Christianity is mostly of Jewish origin. And Universalism helps angry former Christians to take their childhood religion apart so that it will lose its power to hurt them, enabling them to incorporate elements of Christianity that they still value into their adult faith. The result for both groups is greater spiritual depth, and healing for the UU movement as a whole."

These are wonderful words and I thank Rev. Trudeau for them. They certainly help me with my original questions... about how Universalism relates to both Christianity and Judaism. There are other reasons to fan the flame of Universalism. For one, it would help us attract the people who have little religious background, the "never churched" who are looking for something recognizably religious. For another, there's the issue of class and race. Universalism speaks the biblical language which is more familiar to many minorities and the less privileged. The Universalist symbol of the off-center cross is more recognizable as a religious symbol than our flaming chalice. I personally love the chalice, but, as our friend Steve Toli jokes, in many pictures it really does look like a cocktail glass. And the Universalist Declaration of Faith, as I said at the beginning, may express the same values as our Seven Principles, but it feels like a religious statement.

Trudeau sums it up this way:

"Universalism speaks the language of this majority--though in a challenging, new way. Just by speaking the language, Universalism says: if you come to a UU church, you don't have to give up everything. UU values are compatible with much of your tradition. But by using the language in a new way, Universalism also says: if you come to a UU church, you do have to re-evaluate everything. We are not religion as usual!"

Amen to that. May the language of Universalism help us to reclaim our religious heritage in a new way. May the hopeful spirit of Universalism help us to heal. And may the flame of Universalism re-ignite our faith. Amen and blessed be.

Russell E. Miller, The Larger Hope; The First Century of the Universalist Church in America, 1770-1870. Unitarian Universalist Association, Boston, 1979.

Kenneth L. Patton, A Religion for One World; Art and Symbols for a Universal Religion. Boston: Beacon Press & Meetinghouse Press, 1964.

The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention website: http://www.nmuc.org.

Unitarian Universalist Historical Society website: http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/

Starr King School for the Ministry website on Universalism: http://www.online.sksm.edu/universalism.php